Godhra and Gujarat riots were unfortunate: BJP

Terming the post-Godhra riots in Gujarat as "unfortunate", the Bharatiya Janata Party on Saturday said the Narendra Modi government had taken "strong" steps to deal with the situation due to which such incidents have not recurred in the state.

"As far as Modi is concerned, we consider the Godhra incident unfortunate and what followed afterwards in reaction to it -- we consider that also as unfortunate," BJP national general secretary Murlidhar Rao told reporters.

"Whatever steps his administration has taken, he took those steps sternly and strongly. It was due to these steps that no such incidents took place in Gujarat in the future," Rao said.

Rao was replying to a volley of questions on Modi's statement and reaction over the issue.

The BJP leader claimed that the state government does not discriminate against the minority community.

"The benefits of development are reaped by everybody there," he said.

Replying to question over Congress' demand for Modi's apology, he said the party has no "moral authority".

"Congress has no authority to ask for an apology from BJP or any of its leaders. They do not have the moral authority to do so. The list is very long (of the corruption and other cases against them),” Rao said.

He said the party should focus on tackling other serious activities in the country.

"They should see how to tackle them, we do not play vote bank politics over it -- they should desist from it," Rao added.